Just friends
by callie0612
Summary: Prim and Rory have been 'just friends' since kindergarten. But now they're in middle school, and maybe, just maybe, Rory wants more than that. The thing is, Prim has no idea.
1. Isn't science fascinating

**Hi! This is another Prim/Rory story. This is a total AU and the characters might be a little OOC. Enjoy, and reviews are always appreciated. They make my day :)**

**Prim Everdeen**

I step timidly into the hall, which, at 7:42 in the morning, is already bustling with kids, walking with their binders underneath their arms, laughing and talking to their friends. I bite my lip and take some small steps, adjusting the straps on my backpack.

When I get to my locker, I leave the lock hanging on the locker and fiddle with the dial, holding in my other hand a slip of paper with my locker combo on it. For the life of me, I can't remember it, it's just a little quirk of mine.

23. I slowly turn the dial, and twist it the other way twice before I land on 19. Then I whip it back around and land on 38. I pull the lock down, and it doesn't open. I sigh in frustration, and try again. It doesn't work, _again_.

I feel like screaming at it. Instead, I settle for groaning loudly.

"Need help?" A familiar voice asks.

I turn around and see a grinning face. "Rory!" I say, excited. I hug him quickly, and show him the piece of paper.

He laughs it off. "Prim, even _I_ know your combination," He says. Oh. Yeah. Well, I do get his help with it a lot. He efficiently turns the knob and jerks it down a couple of times. He pulls the lock off and hands it to me.

I smile at him, thank him, and open the locker. I slip off my backpack and set it on the ground. I haul out the binder in it, which, while being moderately clean, is overflowing with papers in the front pouch. I lift it up and put the backpack in the locker.

With one swift movement, I flip over the lock, cram it into the locker, and shut the door with my hip.

Rory waits while I turn the binder right side up, and we walk to first period. For the most part, we're pretty quiet, but when we get to class it's hard to _not_ talk.

We walk into Mrs. Levine's science classroom and place our binder on the tables. We sit across from each other at a table of four, the other two people are a boy named Nolan, who has deep, dark blue eyes and black hair, and another girl named Rue, who has thick curly black hair and hazel eyes.

"So," Rory says, shyly. "Do you like anyone?"

I look up, surprised, at his innocently curious face, and it takes one second before I burst out laughing. I laugh so loudly that some girls walking down the hallway pause and look at me, determining my level of insanity. Rory looks hurt and embarrassed, glancing away.

"What did I say?" He asks.

I calm down. "You didn't_ say_ anything wrong, it's just the _way_ you said it, it made me laugh."

"Oh."

Rory sits down and fidgets with the corner of his binder, which is tearing. His dark hair hangs over his eyebrows. "I was just wondering," He mumbles.

"And I don't," I say. "To answer your question."

He looks up, and with intense gray eyes, says, "I do."

Sorry about the short chapter, I'll post more soon. :)


	2. Call me

**Prim Everdeen**

I narrow my eyes a little bit at the thought. Rory likes someone? A pang of jealously hits me in the heart, and I'm not sure why. I've _never _liked him like that. _Ever_. I guess I just don't want him to fall in love and forget me.

"Okay then…" I trail off, and then Rue plops her binder and a book down onto the desk.

"Hey guys!" She says brightly. "Good morning!"

"Hi Rue!" I say.

The bell rings, and the class falls silent. "Good morning, students!" Ms. Levine says happily.

I sit quietly through science, and then walk alone to math. We have to do negatives, which is particularly tough for me, so I struggle to finish the worksheet and end up with extra homework.

Next is art, which I like. The current project is drawing ourselves, and I've tried to draw realistically, but I always end up with a cartoony, childish picture. I try to elaborate on my cartoon, making the eyes more oval shaped, and I fix the nose up a bit. But the lips are still a simple line before the period ends, and it's lunchtime.

I walk swiftly to my locker, and I get out a paper bag from my backpack. The hallways are flooded with kids, either going to lunch, or their next class. We have lot of kids at Panem Middle School, so there are different lunch times for different people.

I put my binder in a bookshelf in the lunchroom, so I can pick it up without having to go to my locker again. I can eat my lunch and throw the garbage out.

I sit down at my usual table next to Rue. "Hey," I say.

"Hi, Prim," Rue says, and takes a bite of her turkey sandwich. We eat silently for a while, and a couple of other people sit don at the table. Then Rory comes and sits in between me and Rue.

He takes a huge bite out of his ham and cheese sandwich and I sip my juice box. I finish lunch soon, as does everyone at the table.

Everyone finishes and we get up and walk to the field. We sit down, and I fiddle with an earring. Rue and a couple other girls make small talk, and I tune out.

Then, a bunch of popular sixth graders come over to us.

"Hey," A pretty, short brunette named Clove says. "What's up?"

I raise an eyebrow, suspicious.

A shy looking boy peeks out of the mob of girls and their 'boyfriends'. He has eerie golden hazel eyes and light brown hair. He smiles at me and I give him back a small smirk.

A blonde girl whose name is I think Glimmer smacks her gum loudly and puts her hand on her hip, because she has _such_ better stuff to do than be with us.

The boy shuffles towards me, and I can see that he's wearing a gray-blue jacket. He picks something out of his pocket. It's a pencil, a small stub, really, and writes something on a piece of paper, also courtesy of his jacket pocket. Then he slips it to me.

**Rory Hawthorne**

What did he give her? It better not be his number.

Because Prim is mine.

Of course, she seems oblivious to that whole issue, but maybe one day I'll work up enough courage to tell her.

Prim and I have been friends forever, since kindergarten. And now we're in middle school, and she seems… different. More mature. I saw her in a new light. I don't want it to ruin what we have, friendship, by telling her, though. So I'm kinda stuck.

She smiles a little when she opens the note.

Well, that hurt.

I look away and focus on the heat radiating on the turf. It's April, so it's nice out. School ends in just 2 months. Thank god.

The lunch man, or at least that's what I call him, starts to wave his arms towards the building, and the Clones, or the popular kids, run, giggling, inside.

I stand up and help Prim to her feet, and hold her hand a tiny bit longer than I need to.


	3. You like?

**Prim Everdeen **

I can't believe it. The hazel-eyed boy gave me his number. His _number_.

I pull out my phone and punch it into a new contact and name it '_THEB_' for The Hazel-Eyed Boy. Then I create a new text and type in, _hi this is prim you gave me your number today_.

Then I walk to my desk and sit in the chair, leaving my phone on my bed. I pick up a pencil and start to draw myself, to practice my realistic drawing skills for art class.

I start to draw an outline for the head, but it comes out like an pure oval and I'm not satisfied. Then a loud buzz comes from my phone.

I jump up and read the screen. _One new text message from THEB_. I click read excitedly.

_Hey ur the hot blond girl right im pierce_, says the message.

Did he just say what I thought he did? I'm hot? Oh my god. He thinks_ I'm hot_. Pierce thinks I'm hot. HOLY COW.

_Haha sure_, I reply, sounding much more collected than I am. _wanna hang out some time?_

The wait for his reply is awful. I pace around my room and sit upside down on my bed and try to draw noses for the art thing. Then finally, about 4 minutes later, the phone buzzes. I squeal again and bounce over.

The phone says, _sure_.

Sure. Sure, sure, sure. Perfect, perfect, perfect. A boy actually shows interest in me for once! The phone hums again in my hands and I press read.

_ how about we meet my house today 4 and we can do something? _the text says.

I think about that. I might have something going on this afternoon. "Mom!" I yell.

"Yes?" She calls from downstairs.

"Can I go to someone's house today?"

"I don't know, honey" She hollers. "Whose house?"

Uh oh. I don't know if she would be okay if it was a boy. "Uh, Rue?"

"Oh, sure, that sounds fine."

I quickly type in a reply. _okay that sounds good where do you live? not to be a creeper of anything :)_

He replies with his address and I realize that it's the house right next to Rory's.

Rory! I forgot about telling him this! I create a new massage to him and say, _OMG guess what rory the guy who gave me the paper today invited me to his house!_

He replies quickly with a short, seemingly bitter text,_ well great for you._

I frown quickly, but throw the phone on my bed and forget what Rory said, or what he meant by it.

I pull on some green flip flops, walk out the door, and go to Rory's house, and then one more house down.

I knock on the door, and wait for a minute. Then the door opens and Pierce's golden-hazel eyes peep out.

I soften up a bit and smile. "Hey."

"Hi, Prim, come on in." He smiles back and opens the door fully. I step inside, and his house is already making a good impression on me.

Hardwood floors support a pleather-like white couch, and a coffee table has a glass top and magazines on it. The kitchen is right around the corner of the wall, which is backed against the couch. There's a skylight above the coffee table.

I grin, impressed.

"You like?" Pierce asks, his mouth open in an expectant smile and his eyebrows raised.

I snort and smile even bigger. "Duh, this place is great!"

He sits on the couch and pats the space next to him. "So… what do you wanna do? I have a hot tub, if you want to go in."

My eyes widen. This guy must be rich.

"Are you kidding?" I ask incredulously.

His face falls. "What?"

I laugh. "Of course I would! Just I don't have a bathing suit…" I trail off.

Pierce waves his hand. "It's fine. I have a sister who's a year older who has some old ones." I nod slowly and he takes me downstairs, into their laundry room. There are multiple bins, all gray with navy lids, and they all have neat little labels on them. He picks a blue, slim one piece out of a bin labeled 'Aloe's old stuff'.

"Aloe's my sister," Pierce explains, as if I don't know that. I wonder if he's all that smart.

He hands me the suit and shows me to a bathroom, where I change and wrap all my clothes in my shirt.

I open the door and Pierce is waiting, newly dressed in swim shorts and a green college shirt, near the stairs. "You can just leave that on a stair if you want," He says.

I drop the clothes and look up to see his golden eyes staring at me. I blush and feel my stomach churn. He slips his hand into mine and my heart pounds.

Pierce opens a screen door and his hand slides out of mine. My heart temporarily plummets, but then Pierce strips his shirt on the deck and I have to bite my tongue to keep from whistling.

He has a tan chest and defined muscles, And I look up at his happy, smiling face. I smile back and get in the hot water.

I sigh, close my eyes and let the steam floats up towards my face, the heat of the water making my heart beat seem to slow.

** Rory Hawthorne**

Stupid, stupid dude and why does he want anything to do with Prim? Shouldn't he know I like her? Isn't it kinda obvious to everyone but her?

I don't want to sit inside being pissed off all day, so I try to find something to do.

The sun outside looks inviting, so I walk out through the screen door onto the porch above the grass. I sit in a chair, and it's not long before Vick comes strolling out.

"Oh, hey Rory, didn't see ya there," He says. I roll my eyes. Of course he saw me. Any chance the little dude gets, he spends with Gale or me.

"Go away," I snap. It comes out a bit sharper than I intended.

Vick's eyes fill with hurt. "I thought we could talk about the new Spiderman movie that comes out this weekend and we could see it together," He says.

I sigh. "I don't want to see some stupid movie about a superhero, okay? See it by yourself."

Vick's lip trembles and I realize what I said and how harsh it sounded.

"No. No, Vick, that's not what I meant! I'm just having a bad day, okay?" I manage to get that out without sounding bitter.

"When do you ever have bad days?" He asks, voice close to cracking.

I ponder that. Well, ever since. . . well. . . Prim-Stealer showed up, so pretty much only today. "I'm sorry, Vick. I'll call one of your friends and have them see it with you okay? Right now I need to be alone though, so please leave."

"Okay," Vick says quietly, and I think right now he doesn't need his friends. He needs his brother.

Vick leaves quickly.

Voices then float from the yard next to me. I never knew who lived there, cause I didn't really care. This distracts me from my argument with Vick.

Oh god. One of the voices belongs to Prim. Are you kidding? I live next to _Prim-Stealer_? Of all people. Him.

I jump off the chair and lean up against the fence, hearing in on the conversation.

"Great, huh?" Prim- Stealer asks.

"Yeah," Prim mumbles.

My eyes narrow then widen. What the hell are they doing? I glance through a hole in the fence, and see a tiniest bit, I think I see a hot tub. I exhale in relief.

"So," Prim-Stealer says a bit cautiously. "Um, that Hawthorne kid. Is he… just a friend?"

Silence. Then Prim's voice. "Rory?"

Prim-Stealer snaps his fingers, at least that's what it sounds like. "That's him,"

Prim laughs a little. "Oh, no, Rory's… just a friend. Yeah."

That's it? That's all I am? Her friend? I slump down against the fence and put my yeah between my knees.

I try to take deep breaths and process what happened. But the deep breaths become shallow and ragged and I have to use all will power not to cry.

_Come on, Rory,_ I think._ Be a man._

I don't want to be a man. I want to be _hers._

Stupid world is against me.


End file.
